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Many of our articles dated 2000 and earlier can now be found in this archive.

Family literacy programs help parents improve both their parenting and literacy skills while providing young children with early childhood education. The parenting component often includes in-home visits and enrichment activities. Learn more in this overview of the components of family literacy programs.

The best family literacy programs share certain curricular components, but are tailored to meet the needs of the diverse families they serve. This digest describes how Even Start has led to the development of many different family literacy programs.

For parents to be comfortable interacting with schools, they must often bridge language and culture differences. Here are recommendations for getting involved that open the lines of communication.

Many children are raised with a home language different from the language at school, and this has given rise to many misconceptions about language learning. This will help parents learn the facts, and get information about helping their second language learner.

Knowing that students with certain family backgrounds and experiences are more likely to have trouble learning to read means that efforts can be made with these children to prevent difficulties from developing. For example, children with a family history of difficulties or with little exposure to books are at increased risk.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a law that ensures certain rights for children with disabilities and their families. Parents have a certain role to play in the process of getting children the help they need. Find out what parents of children with disabilities can expect in this list of rights and responsibilities.

Families differ enormously in the level to which they provide a supportive environment for a child's literacy development.

Statistics show that family support for reading – including reading aloud to children – has a major impact on reading success. However, research has uncovered a variety of reasons why many families aren't as involved as they could be.

There are often challenges to creating strong family and school partnerships. Here are tips for schools to face these challenges in order to make parents feel more comfortable and get more involved in their children's education.

It's a fact! Children whose parents are involved in their education have better grades, a more positive attitude toward school, and more appropriate school behavior than those with less involved parents.